With XP, Vista as a guide, Windows 7 could debut between Aug. 28 and Sept. 20

Although Microsoft Corp. refuses to name a delivery date for Windows 7, it could launch the new operating system as early as August, according to timeline comparisons of significant dates for Windows XP and Windows Vista.

Those calculations bolster speculation that Microsoft has already set a ship date. Earlier this week, for example, a senior Microsoft executive said that a release in time to make 2009's crucial holiday selling season was "accomplishable," a departure from policy that has only promised to deliver Windows 7 within three years of Vista's appearance.

Yesterday, the gadget site Pocket-lint went even further as it said Acer Inc.'s Bobby Watkins had pegged Oct. 23 as Windows 7's launch date.

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